This is the city: Los Angeles, California. I work here. I'm an ex-mayor. Los Angeles is a magnet for people from all over the world. Some of them run for public office. Inevitably some of them stray from the golden rule and rule for those that have the gold. That's when I go to work. My name is Yorty. I'm a dead pol.

Monday, January 09, 2012

Morning Briefs on the Los Angeles Political Machine for Monday

Welcome to the second week of 2012 and as we look onwards to the 2013 Mayoral Elections, there is a small issue of $100 Million dollars in delay payments (ie. the cost of maintaining Mayor Villar's fiscal legacy) that may become an inconvenience for a certain "City Controller". While the likes of former Deputy Mayor Austin "Mini-Riordan II" Beutner called this budgetary maneuver "Enron", the City Controller Wendy "The Valley Greuel" morphed into the "fiscal ostrich" that blends into the political landscape of denial, said nothing.

As noted "Valley Greuel" observer Paul Hatfield opines in his blog post on the topic,this void of denial can have dire consequences.Complete disclosure of all material events and obligations is one of the fundamental responsibilities of a controller in private industry or government. Failure to disclose critical information could lead to criminal charges under certain circumstances. $100 million is material in all aspects to the city, especially if it could very well come due much sooner than later (see addendum below for the extent of the disclosure in the city’s financial statements). Thus, "delay and deny", may have a large cost for the mayoral aspirations of the "Valley Greuel".

** Mayor Villar is ensconce in Sacramento among state legislaturers, attempting to delay the demise of CRA. After all, protecting the outreach proclivities of the likes of CASA 0101 should be of paramount concern.